Week 17: Living With Elephants
A year ago during sivasana in a yoga class, I dreamed of elephants. At the time, the vision seemed to be more about the icon of an elephant as opposed to the actual animal. I wasn’t sure what the apparition meant or where it came from, but I started collecting elephant imagery; pictures, statues, even printed sheets. Then, a little over a month ago, I found myself at the Elephant Nature Park outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was there and then that I fell in love with actual elephants; their grace, their personalities, their stories. As it turns out, they are more than just a pretty face.
This week I find myself back in Chiang Mai so I decide to head off for 7 days of volunteer work at The Elephant Nature Park. The Park is a unique place, a refuge for blind, injured and mistreated elephants. Although [elephant] logging is illegal in Thailand, the animals here are still used for work and tourism. Most of these elephants are also trained using drastic and disturbing means including torture and sharp hooks inserted deep into their thick but sensitive skin.
Meadow, one of the permanently disfigured elephants.
Being a volunteer at the Park is a lot like being at camp, a work camp that is. We start our daily chores at 8am, sometimes working in the elephant kitchen; making banana balls, washing fruits and vegetables, unloading trucks. Other daily jobs include shoveling elephant shit, cleaning muddy elephant pools filled with shit, cutting corn stalks in a field underneath the hot Thai sun, moving 20lb handmade mud bricks from one location to another, or anything else the camp needs. Sounds awful? Amazingly, it’s actually fun, although I’ll be the first to admit I spend a lot of time complaining (and just as much time laughing).
"Cleaning" the elephant mud bath (photo by camp photographer).
Shoveling elephant dung (photo by camp photographer).
Making banana balls - a handmade elephant treat.
Some afternoons we go tubing in the river, trying to cool off, getting out right in front of the park where the elephants bathe. Evenings are spent exhausted, beers in hand, sitting on the veranda watching the elephants hanging out in their adopted family groupings.
This is the best part of being at the park; the elephants are always there, out your bedroom window, next to where you work. Although I continually appreciate this fact, I amazingly get used to their presence. Imagine living amongst 35 elephants all day every day!
The view from my bedroom window.
Good company while you work.
Mid-week we take three of the elephants to what’s called “elephant heaven,” a nearby jungle where the animals can be let loose overnight, fending for themselves in the jungle, enjoying a taste of freedom. We bring lightweight packs and spend the night in open air quarters, sleeping on thin blankets, enjoying the quiet place, the starry sky.
Our group walking an elephant named Hope into the jungle.
Our open air sleeping quarters.
Pom and the mahouts cooking us up a delicious rustic meal.
After dinner, darkness comes and we hike into the jungle to look for the free roaming elephants. We follow the mahouts through the dense forest, armed with flashlights as they call the creatures in Thai. We hear the animals before we see them; the hollow sound of a wooden bell Mae Perm wears around her neck. Eventually we spot Jokia, one of several blind elephants, her silhouette illuminated by our flashlights. It feels as though we really have discovered some mysterious creatures in the darkness. We move the animals closer to camp, so they will be more easily found in the morning, and head back to our camp to sleep. Around the campfire Pom, who helped start the camp with Lek, tells us tales of the early days and the hardships. One particularly devastating story is about one of their first elephants, a baby who was poisoned to death with cyanide (probably by the government) in order to scare Lek and Pom into giving up their mission. It’s been a very hard and long struggle, but Lek finally has enough support and publicity now to be left alone (more or less) by the government.
Bringing hope back to our jungle camp in the morning.
On the last day of the volunteer week, our entire group goes with Lek and Pom to collect a new elephant they are bringing to the camp. The 37 year old animal has been used by a nearby trekking company but has a damaged tendon in one of her back legs. The nature park drives their brand new Bob Barker donated truck to pick up the elephant, but she's afraid to get in. So she, with a big group of volunteers end up walking the 5 miles back along the highway to the nature park.
The new elephant and team arriving.
The whole experience of being at the park is pretty amazing. The other volunteers are from a variety of backgrounds and ages, but all share a love of the animals and a hard working ethic. At moments our week feels like months, and a sometimes never ending stream of work, but by the end I find myself wishing it was only the beginning. I’ve only just started to get to know the animals, and the great food and company is so wonderful. So it’s with heavy hearts we leave the park, many of us knowing that we will definitely be back.
The daily mahout soccer game at dusk.
Nights spent hanging out with the group.
70 dogs at the park... everywhere you go!
http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/
